"Worst Parties...."

...so that you don't feel like you're the only one whose plans didn't turn out as expected!

Worst Party Nightmare
I planned a 6th Birthday Party for my daughter at a local party center. I had to put down a (non-refundable) deposit to hold the room. At the time, I thought at least 10 of the 25 children invited would be able to attend. Not one parent RSVP'd by the designated date. I hastily started calling all of the parents, who were quite sorry that their children were unable to make the party. I had to cancel it at the last minute, losing my deposit. My daughter was so upset. I quickly arranged a little gathering of 5 children at my home for her Birthday, which turned out to be a major success. - Thanks to Yvonne in Maryland

Let it Snow!
Worst party ever was my daughter's 4th birthday. We had planned to have a treasure/obstacle course in the backyard. The morning of the party there was 3 inches of snow outside. Needless to say, the treasure/obstacle course was cancelled. The children (13, plus 6 adults) knew of our intention to have an obstacle course and all asked if we would still have it despite the snow. I told them "yes" but it would be in the basement instead of outside. They had a great time until their stomach told them it was past lunch time and the large pizza was not there. I had ordered 4 large pizzas from a major franchise and the large turned out to be small and 1.5 hours late. When I complained they told all they could do was charge me $10 instead of full price. Well, the children were not shy to tell me how cheap I was!! The cake was a double deck rainbow cake. With lots of icing. Enough for everyone of course. They only ate the icing and left the cake. The only thing that went well was the goody bag. I had fashioned some paper bowls into "pots of gold" to go with the theme and filled them with goodies. One child was overheard saying "Finally something good to eat"! That was the last time I had more than 5 children for a birthday party! - Thanks to Louise in Calgary, Alberta

No One Came!
My greatest party disaster was my son's 5th birthday. We had invited some new friends from school, and had not one RSVP. We planned for the children to be there and no one came. We had to go find a few neighborhood kids to come over and play our games and enjoy cake and ice cream. We have had a little better luck since then. Hopefully this year will be even better. - Thanks to Melissa in Sacramento, California

The First Birthday Blues
My daughter's first birthday party was not what I expected it to be. I was all ready for the guests to arrive (so I thought) when little by little, people started calling to say they couldn't make it. I had all of these prizes for games and party favors for the kids, but no kids. Counting my daughter, there were three kids there. So we still played the games, but everyone got a prize. Each child got about three party favor bags each. Then with everything else going wrong, after the guests had left, I realized I forgot to sing Happy Birthday to my daughter and give the kids more bags I made up for them. How could I forget to sing Happy Birthday to my daughter on her first birthday!! I felt terrible. All I could do was sit and cry. But, after I stopped crying, my husband and I picked up my daughter and sang Happy Birthday to her ourselves. Hopefully this years' birthday party will go a lot better. - Thanks to Jennifer in New Lexington, Ohio

Too Much Excitement
My worst birthday party experience was actually my daughter's first party with friends. She turned 5 and had invited friends from her preschool. After everyone completed one game, they wanted to eat cake and open presents. My daughter did not have the same thing in mind, and insisted that everyone was going to play again. As her parents, we decided to go on with everyone else's wishes to move on to the cake. In the meantime, my daughter began having one of those terrible-two temper tantrums and refused to come out to blow out her candles. When we decided to go ahead and cut the cake she came out, still crying her head off, and wanted to blow out her candles. She still did not cooperate though and ended up spitting out the candles with tears in her eyes. I took pictures of her tantrum and to this day, almost 1 year later, she still denies her tantrum. I tell her that she is not allowed to have another party for several more years, when Mom and Dad are brave enough to try that one again. I won't deny her of a nice cake though. - Thanks to Christie in Taylorsville, Utah

Those Terrible Two's
Just a quick story about my son's second birthday party. We had a hard time finding any supplies for a second birthday, so we decided to create our own. I made a 2-layer cake shaped like the number 2, and my mother and I stayed up until one in the morning cutting out the number 2 out of construction paper. We then stuck, taped, and hung those numbers on anything that stood still in the living room. I bought some "standard" birthday balloons, cups, etc. and grilled hot dogs. Great planning except for one thing....only 2 kids showed! I guess we jinxed the party with all those 2's around! - Thanks to Neisha in College Park, Georgia

A Sad First Birthday
Last year was my son's first birthday and it was a terrible disaster. He didn't have any baby friends and me and his father had separated a couple of weeks earlier so it was just our two families sitting across glaring at each other. I felt so bad about it that this year I want everything perfect and have lots of children to invite so even if adults can't get along, they can! - Thanks Kami in Florida

Double Trouble
Our worst b-day party was when my twin girls were in pre-K. We invited every child in the class. About 25. Sent invitations. Bought all the stuff, had games, everything needed. Not one child came or called!!! Not one! No parents or anything. My girls were devastated. Just turning 5 years old and no one showed up. What do you tell them? - Thanks to Alice in Okeechobee, Florida (Editor's note:Birthday parties are so special for our kids. Try to attend, and don't forget that RSVP!)

Burger King Blues
I think that the worst birthday party was for my 10 year old niece. My sister had it at a local Burger King for about 8 kids. They totally forgot we were coming for a party and rushed to set everything up at the last minute in front of us. The cake was a one layer and extremely dried out and the guy assigned to help serve it hacked away at it with a tiny plastic fork. To top it off the kids refused to wear the party hats because they were afraid to mess their hair up and thought the tour of the kitchen was boring. - Thanks Theresa in Midland, Ontario

Ooooh La-La
Our worst birthday fiasco was my daughter Sarah's 7th birthday party. I had just come home from the hospital after an emergency appendix operation. Superdad had done everything - cleaned the house, organized the food, bought and wrapped the presents, but the piece de resistance was his homemade Teletubby cake. A masterpiece of love, lollies, and sickly icing in a strange glowing shade of yellow. The stage was set. He went to bring in the cake and found the dog had eaten half of La-Las head. Tears abound until Miss 7 declared she sneaked a preview taste of the icing and she was amazed that the dog wasn't dead. - Thanks Kim in Waimate, New Zealand

Teenage Blues
Well, my worst birthday, personally, was when I turned 13. I had been looking forward to becoming a teenager with great anticipation, only to discover that NO ONE remembered my birthday. My parents didn't wish me a happy birthday; no one called the entire day. In great disappointment, I decided to remain silent, to see how long it would take before anyone realized it was my birthday. Shortly before bedtime, my grandfather called, to wish me a happy birthday, because it was his brothers birthday as well, or he would have forgotten also. It was very upsetting to me, that one of my most important birthdays; my passing from childhood to teenager was so overlooked by everyone else. I have other stories, but, will save them for next time. Thanks for the opportunity to enter your contest. Thanks Amber in Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Remember Those RSVP's
Last year for my daughter's 5th birthday party I went all out and nearly broke my pockets to prepare for her first slumber birthday party. I made everything from hot wings, hamburgers, and hot dogs to appetizers, drinks and the cake. The party was scheduled for 2pm that day and only 1 person showed up at 3pm and stayed for 1 hour. My daughter was very upset, so this year I plan to make sure everyone RSVPs and make her 6th birthday coming up this May, to be the best one she has ever had. Thanks Cherisa in Ft. Rucker, Alabama